What just happened?

I walked into the meeting. A hushed silence fell over the others. This happened every time I tried to sneak in. I had tried to be nice and get to know some of them, but still they expected me to fit my title. The Fire Princess had a colder personality than me.

Being the Ice Princess doesn't mean I have to have a cold personality. Sure I have been rude to people, but who hasn't? Everyone always seems to remember and point out ever time that I have. And when some one is blatantly rude or mean, no one cares!

As the Ice Princess, I'm expected to be perfectly poised and uncaring. I care and it hurts to sit perfectly straight in a frozen chair. For at least 3 hours between meals.

Perhaps I should tell you as to when this all started. You see, in the ice kingdom, royalty has never been able to give birth to the next ice king or queen. I am no exception. I was found one day by the Queen's favorite servant.

I had been selling ice figurines. He wanted me to show him how I made them. So naturally, I pointed to his feet and put a spindle's needle under him. Then I ran. Needless to say, I was in big trouble once they caught me, two weeks later.

The King thought this was all hilarious. First he laughed about what I had done to the servant. Then he laughed about how the entire Royal Guard had been searching for two weeks before a street urchin turned me in.

After this, I was trained as a "proper" Ice Princess. The Queen is the true Ice Being. She is only kind to the King. Never once have I seen her actually care about the people. The King made sure I wouldn't be like her. He would take me out after an extremely frustrating lesson and show me his favorite places in the city.

That was before he got sick. Which is why we are having this meeting. The royalty from the other elemental nations want to know what I and the Queen plan to do, since I am not yet of age to become a queen.

"Must we have a king to rule us?" the Queen asked. She didn't like the law that clearly stated all nations must have a king to rule it at all times.

"We've been over this, Mora, you must have a king to rule you." The earth king was always calm. It annoys the daylights out of me. I stood up and waited to be acknowledged.

"Ledu, you may speak."

"Thank you. Since the king has not yet died, a suitor should be searched for. I propose that every kingdom try to help look for him. If the Ice King does die as soon as you say he will, then shouldn't everyone try to find me a suitor so that no other kingdom has to be lacking their own men to keep a King on our throne." I sat back down on my cold, hard ice chair too quickly and sent a shockwave of pain up my spine. I cringed at the same moment as lightning Princess stood to speak. I heard several snickers around the room.

I quickly looked down at my hands and began to braid the dangling ribbons on my dress. She spoke her piece, and I heard none of it. My mind was already thinking about who my suitor could be. Evidently she had begun complaining about how I shouldn't have a suitor yet because no one else got one yet.

"Well isn't she a prissy little whiner." The Ice Queen spoke so that only I would hear. I tried really hard not to bust out laughing. My face turned really red and so the meeting was let out shortly so I could "recover." I ran outside and burst into laughter.

The other princesses filed out behind me while the current royalty stayed inside. They stared at me for some time before they actually started talking. To each other of course but at least they were talking in my presence. When I finally had control of myself I slowly stood up and brushed the dirt from my skirt.

I saw the Fire Princess watching me out of the corner of her eye. I made my way over to the balcony and watched men fight for notice.

"I think we should help look for a suitor." The voice made me jump and I whorled around. My hand had automatically gone to the dagger hidden in my lightweight skirt. I released it when I saw it was just the Fire Princess.

"Thank you. I would rather not find one yet, but it would be best for my country." I couldn't meet her eyes so instead I turned back to the fighting men.

"I understand. My name is Sunog, by the way. It's not very feminine, but apparently it fits." she turned to watch the men below us as well.

"I'm Ledu, but I guess you already knew that." I sighed and let my back relax from being perfectly straight. She looked at me strangely.

"You really aren't cruel or rude like the others say, are you?"

"No, I'm not. Wait, did you see that! It looked like he used ice in place of his broken weapon!" I exclaimed as I pointed down at one of the men. The other princesses crowded around to see. The man I was pointing at had evidently heard my exclamation and turned and bowed at me. He began collecting the water in the air and created a necklace. Then he tossed it to me. It landed perfectly around my neck. I giggled with the other girls as we returned to the meeting.

Sunog was the first to stand. When she was finally acknowledged, she exclaimed the news to the current royalty. Most were thrilled. The Lightning Princess grumbled for the rest of the day, and throughout the rest of the Contests.

Sunog and I have become great friends. The man we saw is now going through his lessons on being the Ice King. I thoroughly enjoy beating his test scores each time. He is loved by the people, and me. The current Ice King called me to his death bed and literally gave me the kingdom. I told the people and they were happy the Ice Queen wasn't. But that's a story for another time...

Subscribe

Get Teen Ink’s 48-page monthly print edition. Written by teens since 1989.